with only hours left in fiscal cliff talks congress is calling it a rout no vote tonight in the house of representatives so what does this all really mean and is the damage already done. twenty twelve is almost coming to an end a look back at some of our most memorable stories here at our teeth and new beginnings. when soldiers return from war the veterans administration helped many of them get back on their feet the dark secret lies within the walls of the v.a. hospital in washington d.c. we'll tell you about a culture of drug dealing that has reportedly taken over at the hospital.

it is monday december thirty first new year's eve in washington d.c. i'm christine for his hour and you're watching our t.v. . well get your parachutes everyone it looks like we will be going over the fiscal cliff after all the u.s. house of representatives has announced they will not be voting tonight on a budget deal now this may sound very dramatic but a few things to note tomorrow is a federal holiday markets will not be open if congress votes on this next week they could pass legislation retroactively blocking the tax hikes and spending cuts both sides do cells still seem to be bargaining over whether and how to avoid more than one hundred billion dollars in costs to defense and domestic programs those were scheduled to take effect on wednesday now we want to outline for you the latest details of this deal and sort of talk about what it means i'm joined by sam sax progressive writer and commentator also a former capitol hill staffer so what. we have here sam i mean is this just

congress buying more time yes and it's going to be pretty disappointing for all the people who've been watching the corporate news outlets and their countdowns are going to hit zero and they're expecting something like that to happen with the capital falling off the cliff that's not going to happen yes we're going to miss the deadline but as you said markets aren't open so they're not to react tomorrow's a federal holiday so all the agencies that are going to be trying to figure out ways to make these cuts as part of the automatic sequester they're not going to be doing that because they're not going to be working so basically congress has another two more days to try and figure something out come on did they really need two more days they've been dealing with this for several months now yeah i mean even men need this no i guess not i mean look what you have right now is a republican party that is not going to move to the center i mean the democratic party has pretty much abandoned all its principles in this fight they've president obama has given ground on the tax issue they've even put cuts the social security on the table and republicans have yet to move any direction at all so yeah i guess

you do need some of this time and once you do go over the cliff in the tax cuts do become. taxes automatically go up then suddenly you're looking at a big tax cut piece of legislation that's going to be within the rules of grover norquist you know we're not going to raise taxes are going to go up it will be all right oh he's cutting and really a lot of a lot of progressives have wanted this do they want to go off the cliff because they think that they can get a better deal they can get the two fifty number back instead of the four fifty i was wondering i mean if you if you think that that's something that that's good you know i mean obama you know i'm willing to you know as you say abandon his principles but in the eyes of a lot of people i'm willing to compromise i'm willing to say you know what i ran an election saying to fifty would be my top number i'm willing to say four hundred thousand in terms of tax cuts you know but for everyone making below four hundred thousand this was but this is sort of a big deal here because if you haven't. two fifty you're going to raise about eight

hundred billion dollars in revenue and if that's the name of the game reducing the deficit than you want you want to raise some you want to reduce the deficit by eight hundred billion dollars that seems like a pretty good deal by raising it to four hundred four fifty you're getting less than half that now writing about three hundred eighty so you're going to take more of that money has it spend exactly so yeah the president might be making a compromise between two fifty or a million but he setting himself up to get screwed down the road when when you have the debt limit and you have spending you know probations bills coming that are expiring republicans are going to be like hey we only got three eighty we're going to have their good four hundred then i'm not living by any means a slave to polls a lot of times i think they're a little ridiculous but you have seen the polls i mean ten percent approval rating for congress and we've seen that if in fact as it looks like it's going to happen we go over the fiscal cliff most people in this country are going to blame republicans are going to blame republicans for trying to protect the wealthy in this country they're not there hasn't obama has one of the highest approval ratings he's had in quite a while let's not forget he just won reelection so i mean do you think that

a whole lot of people on the left may they might even be celebrating at this point i think there are you when the president put up the changes to social security or to a chained c.p.i. which would reduce benefits for future seniors and source thirty represents reparative recipients progress is were extremely angry and luckily republicans killed it because it didn't quite go far enough for them so they dodged dodged that bullet but you're mentioning polls here congress' ten percent approval rating part of the reason why is because they're not doing what the people want if you look at polls when it comes to raising taxes over two hundred fifty thousand dollars people make a return of fifty thousand seventy five percent the american people support that when you look at but they're tiny five percent that are giving these campaigns and these lawmakers exactly it's no coincidence at all that this congress is so unpopular and is dealing with all these deadlines is dealing with the fiscal cliff now is the same congress that was elected post citizens united the first congress and what you had this unlimited amount of corporate money being spent on it and here's the congress we got out of it i do want to put up because throughout this day we have been following the. story we really thought

a deal would be reached so i want to put up some numbers as they were a couple hours ago just so people are prepared in the next couple days the potential deal as it was discussed would bring in about six hundred billion dollars in revenue taxes would be increased by nearly forty percent on individuals earning four hundred thousand dollars or more per year and for families earning four hundred fifty thousand dollars or more the earned income tax credit the child tax credit and the college tax credit would be extended for another five years the estate tax would be raised to forty percent for properties worth more than five million dollars and the deal would extend unemployment benefits for another year and finally the capital gains tax would increase to twenty percent from what is currently fifteen percent so you know these are this is sort of what was discussed president obama at one thirty eastern time today came on the air saying we're very near a deal what's your premonition about this how did this all sort of unravel. well i

mean the president tried in democrats of trying to separate well i mean both sides now i guess want this where they want to separate the taxes from the spending so this deal is really only focused on taxes on raising revenue and you have to raise as much revenue so that you don't get hit on the spending side that's really going to be the side that's going to hurt our economy is the spending side and you know you saw the president a few a few weeks ago come out with a one point six trillion dollars number for raising revenue he wanted a big revenue raise and now he's going to maybe if this deal works out and up with only six hundred that's not so good and that means there's going to be huge heavy cuts coming down the road when the debt limit fight comes or when any of these other fights going to come and that's you know that's really good for middle class families family i let's just take a kind of a bigger luck here at this whole process i mean it's been a while excruciating talking about this the so-called fiscal cliff for for the last several months now i'm frankly sick of it i was really hoping we'd be done with it so we don't have to talk about it anymore but the fact is this is sort of

a bigger picture here you know there's a larger message and that is the functionality of congress yeah i think so and it gets back to what we were just talking about about citizens united and then when you have all these money basically we elected tea party congress people who really you know you have a few funeral i know there's a funeral home director there you have some other people they're just not statesmen they don't understand the idea of that look you're going to congress you have to sacrifice some of these hard line principles and they haven't and they don't need to they're there to protect the interests of the people who put them there which are the extremely wealthy people in america not the motors exam. wealthy people who are not going to be taking a hit in the still like you said the couple days are it's going to go from fifteen to twenty percent was supposed to go to thirty nine percent that's about it it's some gigantic twenty percent tax cut that they're all going to the wealthiest americans we're talking about and the a massive tax cut as part of this as part of this deal well we will keep our eyes on that as a progressive writer and commentator sam sachs thanks as always happy new year.

well this u.s. mainstream media has devoted hundreds of hours to cover a covering this excruciating fiscal cliff process just a few hours ago many sources said a deal would in fact be reached now as we see that is not the case this isn't the only one eighty though that media outlets have been forced to make there are several examples even just in this year in two thousand and twelve and the pointer institute a school dedicated to teaching media leaders and to promoting excellence in journalism every year they put together a list of the biggest media fails last year's list included numerous flubs by media mistaking the name osama for obama when announcing the death of osama bin laden this year the number one media error had to do with a certain supreme court ruling on the affordable care act otherwise known as obamacare if you've forgotten let me refresh your memory the individual mandate has been ruled unconstitutional justices have just got it was the centerpiece

provisions of the obama health care law ok yeah it's exact that's the final word on the individual mandate that could be a little bit more complicated but i didn't complete their formation we're going to inflicting information as you say there's some confusion there are conflicting reports coming in from inside the supreme court so let's let's try and drawing these final conclusions are still trying to figure this out be cautious with this we're trying to do the best we can right now as we sort through it and we need it later a lower third actually may not be correct or a take several minutes as reading through this again i we are reading now that the entire law has been held while this after that list was released i spoke about it with christopher chambers journalism professor at georgetown university. there was a little tinge against fox in there and i would probably be a little bit more critical of fox because both of their mistakes are basically allegory or metaphors for what's wrong with both networks c.n.n. did rush they rushed they had not prepared adequately even their army of pundits

had not really laid the ground adequately in terms of legal analysis fox on the other hand they did not miss report the story they misinterpreted the entire decision in the end everything that their coverage their evening show punditry all the stuff they put on fox nation the raw meat they usually throw out to their fans was all geared towards this this. being overturned so when it wasn't they were kind of caught with their pants down sort of like what happened on election night so i mean you do have a rush to get the news out first to be the new digital media out there and maybe even meet its needs but i think with c.n.n. you know when you saw what they had to do to for damage control you really saw that they were saying oh god we are the dinosaur we tried to run with the little mammals and we didn't do it we and we made a mistake with fox it was we did make a mistake you know it's i would be a little more critical of fox but again they were trying to compete with this more

nimble digital media yes certainly with twitter out there i remember i was working i had you know we had all three televisions on and that's n.b.c. c.n.n. fox and then i had you know twitter of course and i was literally getting opposite tweets coming out it was one of those things you know i wasn't in the supreme court so i didn't see it and it wasn't you know a large document but this is not a time in journalism as we had you know fifteen twenty thirty years ago where the whole report would be read and analyzed before any sort of announcement was made so i think it's every major decision of dischord even going back to the time of templates and printing presses in the one thousand three hundred eighteenth century it was marbury vs madison things were read first and then the decisions were announced to the press this was one of those times where you know it really again is allegory for what's wrong. that was christopher chambers journalism professor from georgetown university. now of the mainstream media worked very hard to get the

story out first as has been the case time and time again they often don't get it right meanwhile we here at r.t. have been in the middle of several in-depth investigations of our own earlier this month our to correspondent liz wall discovered a shocking problem taking place inside of the walls of the veterans administration hospital in washington d.c. drug abuse at the place many turn to for rehabilitation veterans inside say drug abuse is so rampant it's bringing people off the street to buy and sell drugs inside the hospital walls here's an inside look at the problem of those in charge seem to be aware of but ignoring. the department of veterans affairs administers health care to military veterans with an annual budget of over eighty seven billion dollars it's the largest department in the united states after the defense department at the v.a. medical center in washington d.c. it's no secret that if you want drugs you can get them there were.

it's common knowledge this veteran doesn't want to show his identity but says drug dealing happens here on the second floor smoke deck outside the emergency room is another known hot spot for more. than just slow. so do you think some people come to the hospital to just to get drugs of veterans across the country come here to get medical care but this medical center faces many obstacles with a budget pushed to the limit doctors struggle to provide adequate health care meanwhile drug abuse here runs rampant. from alcohol to prescriptions to illegal drugs addiction among vets comes in many forms the institute of medicine is calling drug abuse in the u.s. military. a public health crisis their recent study shows binge drinking rose to forty seven percent in two thousand and eight and eleven percent engage in drug

abuse and these habits often come home with him when he came home he was never quite the same and he suffered greatly. his depression was intense and he eventually began to misuse alcohol and from there he began to use cocaine jasmine tyler lost her brother when he overdosed on cocaine on his thirty seventh birthday she says when he returned from serving in the gulf war he came back a different person she says the tragedy could have been prevented i certainly think that intensified services through the veterans administration could have helped them but they're just understaffed and underfunded and so the volume of soldiers who are returning really just experience a dearth of service opportunities and options available to the v.a. acknowledges there's room for improvement there's also a need for the system to adapt and to recognize what are the evidence based practices that we need to assure are going to be available some health experts

recommend focusing on prevention and drug screening many believe that in-patient care is an effective in the long term. side. some. of those services don't come cheap hospital rates per day range from one to five thousand dollars and it doesn't take long for those bills to add up and is that expensive service will not compared to the alternatives not compared to and stage disease and also to those some of the repercussions in the community. coming back from combat many service members and veterans battle addiction it's another huge burden that veterans their families and the taxpayers must bear in washington liz wall r.t. . and while the geishas of drug abuse run through the halls of the v.a. hospital america's drug war has fueled a wave of killing in mexico has also led to

a musical movement which graphically describes the exploits of drunk drug kingpins narco corridos are destined to become the new rap music here in the u.s. but it's banned in many parts of mexico these are states where the music is off limits and a low and she was part of the golden triangle in mexico a drug trafficking hotspot. shows us how censorship of these drug songs affect the united states. with the sounds of two blues and accordions larry these old style computers are not seen of romance and love instead the crowd in los angeles is cheering for the music which talks about drug smuggling and shooting their rivals did. i see equivalents who were running as if this is banished and the promoters of these mexican drug ballads hope to be even bigger than hip hop in the u.s.

many of these drug ballads are recorded in los angeles but banned in the mexican states of chihuahua once in a low of the violent and gritty lyrics are attracting huge crowds in benny's across the u.s. as they promote and celebrate the lives of mexico's most wanted drug lords. but it's really the truth that there are most of whom they were not bad guys they're really good guys helping out there in their cities and their wherever they are from. more than fifteen thousand people have been killed in mexico's drug war the last five years the country has militarized many of its urban centers and at a cost of more than one billion dollars to the u.s. taxpayer it is this government crackdown which has given mexico's drug outlaws a roic image that's always something exciting and it particularly exciting people in the lower because you know everything about ice we're fighting back and we're

brave and we're standing up now that's what he said but it came out of this sort on a scene out of. here in los angeles where i said that i'm not a billboard he goes concert i feel like this are actually illegal in parts of mexico but that drug war lyrics are a big hit for us the u.s. . and say the true. the fake stuff and people seem to like him go oh. mexico's censorship of the music has only increased its popularity in the us which is in the middle of the prescription drug addiction epidemic that a lot of addicts really become desperate and out of work out to go to have much of the heroin consumed in the u.s. it smokes didn't do mexico anti drug activists aleksei to use clabber eyes in the

narco cultura will only hurt younger generation it's more glamorous to be a dope dealer and a criminal and a murderer because lawyers and doctors they're not cool the imagery in this drug music is not new to us audiences of which have historically brought into the picture here i thought oh these songs make it seem exciting young guys think of that world thank you we. are. even a hollywood has tried to cash in on the narco culture. and as this music because more mainstream and the drug war continues to rage. it's likely the rock of music sound recent and. the speakers of us he's a call. center. in los angeles remember lindo r t. well since it's new year's eve we want to take

a few minutes now to take a look back this year has been packed with major news events attempts that big and small change and also talk signs that a new year and a new election not change but more brought not change but more of the same our motto here at our team is question more and so we thought it was important to have people on our network that do just that people that challenge the status quo and even the system overall people who don't just talk about change but. try to achieve it even when the odds are against them this year for the first time ever r.t. america hosted a presidential debate for third party candidates with green party candidate jill stein and libertarian gary johnson we discussed real issues that affect real people and raise questions that were not raised in the debates between mitt romney and president obama in case you missed it here are some highlights.

these people stand up he may not be counted on november sixth the topic today and they deserve to be happy alexion leave everyone coming up shortly in our team america studios here in washington d.c. the final debate before the election so we're just a couple hours away now from the third party debate. governor johnson your opening statement well i think that this country is in big big trouble the american people certainly are at the breaking point i am livid over the fact that we bail out wall street for making incredibly bad decisions that we need to change these free trade agreements clearly you see government as being the solution to our problems and i certainly don't promote the government as the solution for everything i see we do have a difference of opinion here do away with the ira's we need to end these wars for

oil foreign aid is something that should stop climate change is here and it's happening the influence the united states should have should be the beacon on the hill. now as you just solitary in candidate gary johnson and green party candidate jill stein how the opportunity to go head to head in the second round of the third party debates but despite those third party candidates and others like rocky anderson virgil goode it appears the u.s. is still very much locked in a two party system now like the other networks we hosted several hours of election night coverage and we tried our best to bring you something different so we took a look at how the two parties might not be so different after all. to a lot of americans there just isn't much of a difference between two parties anymore and.

when you're lucky you're ready yet of all the other clever news outlets to call a winner there's a next presidential election ladies and gentlemen our next president of the united states and going to be obama. well we obviously know president obama won reelection but the point is that the two parties resemble each other in so many ways so what will really come out of an obama second term and how will he define himself as a leader and we'll just have to wait and see. now here at r t twenty twelve brought us an exciting addition to our programming lineup breaking the set with host abby martin kicked off with a major headlines and also trending hash tag thanks so much for tuning in to the brand new show that i've been working super hard all month to bring you i'm your host abby martin and this is breaking the set.

when you think about the others. though. you know when we started the company i would go back to that point to be a big fan of computers be realistic if everybody's him up the right you know i'm very pleased to be joined by producer director oliver stone so if there's one thing i can say to some of the last six months of nonstop election build up is this the media candidate corporatocracy i can't wait for this. to be over ok now that i got out of the way to go over to the biggest issues that barely got covered in the corporate during the. drone obama is officially the drone we think. live live die die die isn't he dead already i don't know kill him anyway this is officially drugging killing people with unmanned drones the smart way to fight terror break he's ramped up the use of

these unmanned killer robots dramatically taking off i like to call president obama the drone he told you likely so far door to channel you tube dot com so like breaking that. particular visitation. breaking that if you're wondering about what i'm doing when i'm not on they're calling me on twitter. well if you think fastening a seat belt around a screaming seven year old is difficult check this out one lawmaker in new jersey attempted to get a law passed that would have required all pets in moving cars to be buckled up as strange as this may sound it caught our attention artie's on a sausage or going to travel to the garden state for this report. meet adrian at seven years old and eighteen pounds she's an experienced traveler. calm and composed. isn't aware of.

is that the future of pets and cars has been a major concern for some lawmakers in new jersey who have been considering implementing a law to buckle up pets that use if and probably the most effective way to secure an animal in a car is either using a carrier and then buckle in the carrier in or using a a travel harness. we tried to use a buckle with adrian and a key. and then without a cage. harnesses can cost up to forty dollars and if this bill were to become law we would be fined from twenty five two thousand dollars and slapped with animal cruelty charges while the cat sits peacefully in the back row while the extra safety may make sense for bigger pets a sixty pound dog can exert up to twenty seven hundred pounds of force on impact.

it's the future when animals of all sizes both debated a couple weeks ago we were stopped by police officer who told us that you know i have to buckle them in once just once this law gets passed and something i should be aware of but it's a motorcycle how can i how can i buckle the dog on while pet owners have different opinions on which part of the bill makes sense and which doesn't have a bigger dog mauling like bove or here and he also gets a whole back seat it's kind of a little ridiculous to me to put him in a harness for a big dog it may be possible but for a small dog like grace i don't know. i think should we go right out of this is about one thing they greed on is that lawmakers could find more crucial issues to focus on i do think we have bigger better things ourselves to concern. with i think that if somebody wants to do it they should and if they don't want to do it they shouldn't have and if anything this is a cash grab there's other issues in the world that they should be focusing on so we've us alone especially at a time when the state of new jersey is experiencing

a nine point eight unemployment rate the states worst in the last thirty years. creatures like adrian traveling around like this like this we're like that. is a curious top priority is this is our t. new jersey. very vocal count there all right everyone that is going to do it for now but if you missed any part of today's stories you're in luck we post all of our interviews on our you tube page so if you want to find it go to youtube dot com slash r t america now you can do a lot there you can click comment you can forward the links to your friends tweet them going on facebook. and also for the latest information on the stories that we covered today and also a few that we didn't have time to get to we have a great web site r.t. dot com slash usa and we want to know what you want us to cover this upcoming year so don't forget you can leave your feedback and story suggestions we will be listening and find out what i.